Recent News
Updated January 27, 2008. The most recent entries are at the top of the page.
Historic Flyby Thirty years after Mariner 10 investigated the innermost planet, the spacecraft Messenger has reimaged Mercury revealing never-before-seen detail. Read more
Solar Cycle 24 is Underway When a reversed polarity sunspot appeared on January 4, scientists knew the next solar cycle had begun. Read more
Solar X-Ray Jets. Japan's Hinode spacecraft has discovered that the Sun is bristling with high-energy x-ray jets that may help astronomers understand why the solar corona is so hot. Read more
Seeing In The Dark. Timothy Ferris, America’s Writer Laureate of astronomy, invites millions of viewers to enjoy the wonders of the night sky in a spectacular HDTV special on PBS. Stargazing is the subject of this 60-minute, state-of-the-art, high-definition (HDTV) documentary that premieres September 19, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. (check local listings). The film, Ferris’ third, is based on his book, Seeing in the Dark (2002), named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year.
Mira's Tail. Astronomers using NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer telescope have found a tail behind the well-known variable Star Mira. Read more
Testing the Principle of Equivalence. Was Galileo right or is there a tiny difference in gravitation depending on an object's composition? Read more
Extreme Supernova. Astronomers using NASA's Chandra x-ray orbiting observatory have observed the most powerful supernova ever witnessed. Read more
Methane Power. A NASA subcontractor recently tested the first methane powered rocket engine. Read more
Fantastic Flyby. Check out the images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it sped past Jupiter on its way to a 2015 encounter with Pluto. Read more
New Phenomena on the Sun. NASA has released never-before-seen images that show intense activity in an unexpected place on the sun. Read more
Alien Volcano. During its gravitational assist maneuver, the New Horizons spacecraft photographed a volcano spewing on Jupiter's moon Io. Read more
NASA Successfully Launches Orbital Express. The spacecraft will be used to demonstrate automated rendezvous and docking capabilities. Read more
Exploring Alien Worlds. NASA has been exploring space for nearly half a century, often with stupendous success. Yet "there's one thing we really don't know: what is the best way to explore a planet?" declares Paul D. Spudis, a senior planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Read more
Moonrise Lunar Eclipse. Check out the photo gallery of March 3rd's total lunar eclipse. Read more
South Pole Flyby. On February 7 the Ulysses spacecraft made a dramatic pass over the Sun's south polar region—an area almost impossible to observe from Earth. Read more
Lost? What would you do if you found yourself stranded on the Moon?
Best Comet in Decades. Comet McNaught put on a great display in the southern hemisphere. Doug Slauson captured its huge dust tail (274kB jpg) near Norway, Iowa, on January 19.
Evening Star. Check out Venus in the evening sky.
Lunar Meteoroids. Apparently the Moon is hit by meteoroids more often than many people expected. During the recent Geminid meteor shower, at least five metors were observed hitting the Moon (read full story at Science@NASA). Several Leonid meteors were also observed hitting the Moon during the November shower.
HST Find Evidence of Ancient Dark Energy. Dark Energy—a mysterious repulsive force that is causing the universe to expand at an ever faster rate—appears to have been around for most of the universe's existence. Read more
Hubble Servicing Mission. On October 31, NASA announced plans for a fifth servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Read more
Surprises From the Edge of the Solar System. Everyday
the Voyager I spacecraft phones home to the big radio dishes of NASA's
Deep Space Network. We've entered a totally new region of space,
says
Burlington, Iowa, native Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist and the former
director of JPL. Read
more
Electric Ice. NASA researchers are using the TRMM satellite to explore the strange connection between lightning and ice. Read more
Solar Sentinels. Before humans return to the Moon, we need to improve our understanding of the solar cycle. Read more
And Then There Were Eight. The International
Astronomical Union has voted overwhelmingly to create a new class of dwarf
planets
with Pluto being the prototype. Read the International Astronomical
Union's Resolution
5 (pdf) for the new definition of a planet in the Solar
System.
Going Bump in the Night. In 1967, the Mariner 4 spacecraft—having successfully completed a flyby of the Red Planet and sailing between Earth and Mars—encountered an intense meteoroid storm. Where did the come from? A 40-year mystery may have been solved. Read more
Remembering a Pioneer. World-renowned University of Iowa space physicist James Van Allen dies at 91.
